In the era of generative AI and machine learning, data has become critical for business, but in many companies, leaders are only just starting to grasp this. So, how can enterprises create an environment where data is valued, accessible and used to support and drive decision making?
At annual datafest BigDataLDN last month a panel of data leaders from Specsavers and UNICEF met to discuss how, before solutions are purchased, warehouses built and lakes dipped into, execs can cultivate a data-positive culture.
Specsavers global data officer, Helen Mannion, recalls how ‘data immature’ her employer was when she first joined the optician chain.
“One of the business analysts there said to me ‘I don’t think you’re going to change anything’, because there were lots of people who were very frustrated because they couldn’t get access to the data that they needed.”
Mannion defines data culture as a mindset: “It’s about the values, behaviours and beliefs organisations have around data; How they choose to use it; Is it ethical? How does it add value? How do you care and look after it?… You can really tell the maturity of a data culture by these values,” she says.
While Mannion’s challenge has been to get everyone within her organisation to use data, Laura Paterson, head of data analytics at UNICEF UK claims her focus has been on changing the perception of teams within the charity that think that data “is nothing to do with them”.
“For me, creating a data culture is about creating business relationships, so that you don’t sit in a silo, and working with the business to understand the questions they have around data and their needs,” she says.
Both Mannion and Paterson agree that a data-driven culture must start from the top, leading by example, with managers who set the expectation that all decisions must be anchored in data.
However, persuading the board about the merits of what they may see as a bunch of spreadsheets and dashboards is easier said than done. So, what key actions did these data leaders take to change the way that their firms viewed big data?
Align your data strategy with the company’s mission statement
You can weave some purpose and momentum into your data strategy by aligning yourself with the culture of the business, according to Specsavers’ Mannion.
“What are the things that it cares about? Its mission, its strategies, its objectives — if you can pin yourself to that you can get positive results to enable the data culture.
Specsavers global data officer, Helen Mannion
“At Specsavers the company’s motto is ‘Improve peoples’ lives’ — whether that’s employees or customers. So, one of the first pieces of data work we did what looking at how we could improve lives in the clinical space, which fed directly into their culture as an organisation, and that helped us establish some buy-in for what we wanted to achieve,” says Mannion.
Use the data to tell a story (and help win funding!)
According to UNICEF’s Paterson, if you want to bring people with you tell a story rather than hitting them over the head with spreadsheets and dashboards. When told correctly this will win project funding.
Patterson told of how, at a former company, she wanted to invest in a technology that collected customer data.
“To win that money I told the story of how, if we invested in this tech, we’d be able to understand our customers more; and if we understood our customers more, and created personal relationships with them, we could generate revenue across everything that we were doing.
“That spoke to the finance director. It’s that ability to take what that data is telling you and to elevate it to the next level,” she says.
You can also use data and the power of storytelling to win funding for projects in other parts of the business — simultaneously winning you over new converts. Providing the data and the narrative for a pitch can be an objective and persuasive way to layout the business case for investment.
Supporting departments in this way creates champions who then buy into the data mindset, which can have a ripple effect across the organisation.
Paterson adds that storytelling has helped her in winning over parts of the business which don’t think they are about data. “That might be about gathering external data that shows the impacts of our advocacy programmes, but it can be anything that helps people to understand how the business is progressing,” she adds.
Attach yourself to lighthouse projects
“From our perspective, we look for big initiatives that are going on within the organisation, that have a lot of drive behind them already, and we look at how we can help and support them,” says Mannion.
This strategy, she says, “is a good way to bolt ourselves on to particular parts of the business and really make a difference within them.”
Once relationships have been established the data culture can evolve from there. “We’re still doing that with parts of the business that’s been a successful way of driving value faster because of the immense pull while we’re in the slipstream,” she adds.
If there are no big initiatives planned in your organisation then look at business problems people are having in certain teams and make it about them so that it fits in with their targets and their KPIs, she advises. “Things move a lot faster when you go where someone’s interested and pull in that direction,” Mannion says.
Laura Paterson, head of data analytics at UNICEF UK
Identify small, defined use cases that you can iterate on
Never underestimate the fear that people have of data overload, which can create so much anxiety, that nothing ever gets done, because no one knows where to start. Also remember that some execs may fear metrics and data because of what it might reveal about their management style, particularly if they favour gut-based decision-making.
“There’s this fear because the world is full of data,” says Paterson. “But always ask yourself: How much data do you really need? What are your business goals? How can we use data to help with leaders with decisions.”
Starting with a small, well-defined project, she adds, can address the data fear factor. “You can then build on this rather than gathering everything. And after that iterate. That’s how you prove the value and that does permeate through the organisation,” she says.
Paterson adds that sometimes you will come up against ‘blockers’ — people in the company who’ve had everything piled on top of them who feel that it’s their job to say ‘no’.
“To spark a cultural shift, you need an initiative to grab attention and to inspire exciting energy behind them. You need to be that challenger to the status quo and do not accept “no” for an answer,” she says.
Measuring success
How can you tell whether you’ve been successful cultivating a more data-inclusive culture? It might seem counter-intuitive for metrics-based people, but the truth is there’s no easy way of measuring behavioural shifts.
For Mannion, it starts at the top, as she takes her main sign of success in the fact that when she joined Specsavers four years ago, she was not on the board’s radar, and was never invited to board-level meetings.
“I wouldn’t even be included in local senior execs meetings. Four years on the fact that we are now regularly invited to board meetings shows how much we’ve managed to transition the company’s thinking. We’re sitting in on exec forums.”
Another measure of success Paterson adds, is how many in-bound questions the data team is receiving.
